Two Visitors at Once

It's been a while since the last post because Adam and I have been trying to get everything done before our first visitor from the US arrived on Friday. On Friday night we took another one of Tony's (the cab driver) wild rides to the airport to pick up Toby, battling traffic and heavy rains and winds. The rain and wind were brought by our second visitor, Typhon Krosa. Unfortunately, the itineraries of both guests clashed.

The storm was the most powerful one we've seen yet, and a Taiwanese guy our age even said that it was the worst storm he'd ever seen. It blew down trees and ripped up signs and billboards. Most stores and restaurants were closed, but we were rewarded for braving the gusting horizontal winds at lunch time when one of our favorite restaurants was open. They looked at us like we were crazy when we walked through the door in our assorted rain gear, but we were served a delicious meal. Dinner time was slightly less successful. Although the storm had moved enough that we were inside the enormous eye, so few restaurants were open that places were running out of food. We ended up holed up with two of the other teachers and some of their friends with three of the last pizzas at Dominos, a bucket of fried chicken, and a refrigerator of beer. Things could have been worse.

By the time Adam, Toby, and I woke up this morning the storm had moved on to China and stores and restaurants were open again. Flooding in Taipei kept us from the majority of the sightseeing on our list, but we were able to trek around town in the rain so the weekend wasn't totally wasted. Hopefully the rest of Toby's trip will be slightly less eventful weather-wise. Next weekend we're heading to the Matsu (Ma-Tzu) islands just off of the coast of China, so cross your fingers that the typhoons stay away!


Below: Our two visitors (on invited, one uninvited)